Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway

The good thing about massive species extinction is all the cool bones left behind, as Denver paleontologist Kirk Johnson will show in his selection for "Cruisin the Fossil Freeway," which also includes the colorful illustrations of Alaska artist Ray Troll. It's a celebration of all things dead and fossilized; your kids will love it. Trolls artwork is based on the 5,000-mile fossil hunting road trip he took with Seattle native Johnson through the American West. Here in Washington state, they found the remnants of giant mastodons and mammoths, ferns as tall as telephone poles, petrified forests, ground-dwelling birds the size of Smart cars, and something known as Archaeotherium, the Killer Pig, whose fearsome reputation speaks for itself. T. BOND